Wire-bound box and method of making the same



Nov. 4, 1930. E. T. JOHNSON 1,730,709

WIRE BOUND BOX AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Nov. 4, 1930. E. T. JOHNSON 1,780,709

WIRE BOUND BOX AND METHOD OF MAKING THE S'AME Filed Deo. 25, 1929 2 sheets-sheet 2 actofuwq yit Patented Nov. 4, 1930 SUNITED siAts EDWARD T. JOHNSON, OF GREENFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, AssIeNoRr To THE NEW ENG- LAND Box COMPANY, OF eannNrInLD, MASSACHUSETTS, `A CORPORATTON OF MArsf sACnUsnTTs @PATENT OFFICE] n ,WIRE-BOUND `ia `,ox.'A1\n1D METHOD OFMAKING'THE SAME n Aillietioa lfiled Detente; 23, 1929. serrer Ne. 416,071. Y j

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in wire bound boxes and the method of making the same, and has for an object to provide a box'that, although made of relatively thinp'material, will provide the Vmaximum strength and, Yat'the same time, will be relatively light in Weight and tight about the edges and corners.

, A still furher obj ect of the invention is to provide a wire bound box that may be made and shipped in the form of a mat together with end pieces and strips so as to take up butlittle 4space, when in its knocked-down form.

Still another object ofthe invention is to provide a wire bound box wherein after the b ox'is assembled, the respective edges, that is, where the adjacent edges'of the bottom,

lsides and coverl meet, will be so tightly fitted that material may be shipped in them that would otherwise drop out or leak from the severaledges ofthe yordinary box.

Still 'another object of the invention is to provide a box that may be shipped in its rknocked-dovvn.formbefore assembly, the box `comprising simply a mat, two end pieces, and four longitudinal reinfo'rcingstrips that'are to be loosely inserted, so that the meeting l edges of the box will be veryv close fitting when in bound-up form.

yStill another` object of the invention is to provide a box thatrmay .be made of relatively light material and, at ythe 'same time, so rstitched'vand formed that it will be exceedingly strong'in service, light in weight and Well sealed valong its various edges. Y With these and other objects in view, the 'invention consists` in certain `new and novel arrangements and combination of parts, as

pointed/ out in the claims. v

Referring now to the drawings showing a preferred embodiment,

- Fig. Ilis a planview ofthe matshowing .the outside; Y

FigqQ is an edge view; .Fig .p .3 is 1a view of he mat in its folded position andbeforethe ,end pieces are insented;

4 is adetai'l'of one of the ends;

will be hereinafter morefully described andA Fig. 7 is aperspective of one of thefour reinforcing strips;

Fig. 8 is a perspective ofthe box, parts beitng broken away to show the'corner lconstrucion; v

Fig. 9 is a perspective showing how the reinforcing strips fit and rest on the corners of the end pieces, when assembled. y'

Referring now more particularly to the several views and fori the moment toy Fig. l, there will be seen the mat which is made up of wooden pieces orjsections, wherein a piece l is a side, 2 is vthe bott-om,r3 is a side and 4 is the vtop. mat, when shaped to form, will be these respective parts of the completed box. As also Thatis, these several pieces of the rows of stitching y5 for holding the mat together, the material rbeing preferably wire, which is held in place bythe small staples 6,

' and this wire stitching will be placed on with an ordinary box wire stitching machine.

It willbe noticed that the'two outer rows of stitching also hold in place a number of wooden cleats 7, and taking for instance the `first piece ofthe mat, that is, one ofthe sides, as shown to the left of Fig'.v l, two wooden cleats are stitched on ythe under orinnerk surface and near the opposite endsv of the same. These cleats vare tongued at their opposite ends, asat 8, so that thetongues, in turn, `willcooperate kwith grooves 9 formed in the ends of-thefurther wooden cleats 7 stitched on the bottom piece. way, similar cleatsfare on the next ,piece and on the sides and top pieces, soy that vwhen the mat is folded or shaped to form, as shown in the remaining views, these wooden cleatswill all be locked with the well-known tongue and groove formation; x f s willjalso .be noticed in Fig. 1, when these In the same ree several parts, that is, the sides, bottom and top, are stitched to form the mat, there isa relatively small space 10 between the adjacent edges of the several pieces, so that the mat can be folded up to box-like form.

As may also Vbe noticed in Figs. 1 and 3, the rows of wire stitching have their outer ends projecting, as at 11 and 12, so'that after the box is fully shaped-and packed, these respective overlapping ends 11 and 12 may be tightly twisted around each other, so as to pull the box tightly together and tie the same.

Having understood how the mat is formed, reference now will be made to the end pieces,

as shown in Fig. 4. Here,the end 13 is clearly shown and this, in turn, may be made up of separate piecesl/i and held by the strips 15, or this end piece might be made up of one piece rather than these sections, if so desired.

It will be understood' that there will, of course, be two ends and they are identical'in structure, so that a description of the one is a description of the other.' y

One of the important contributing factors to the invention is that the four corners of this end piece are beveled or cut-oil, as at 15, so that triangular reinforcing strips 17 may extend from the one end piece to the other end piece and fit in these several cut.- oif corners. Of course, the base 13 of each reinforcing strip will lie adjacent a beveled corner, so that when all of them are'in position, they will appear as shown in Fig. 6.

In assembling the box, the mat will be turned over or reversed from the position shown inFig. 1 and folded as shown in Fig. 3, and the partly assembled box will be stood on its one end and an end piece nailed to the cleats 7. The two bottom reinforcing strips 17 are then slipped into place, so that the respective bases of these reinforcing strips will lit adjacent the cut-off corners of the end piece and abut the end cleats. The box will be set up on its other end, the other end piece nailed to its respective cleats and then the two remaining reinforcing strips 17 placed in position, so that we now have the two end pieces nailed to the respective cleats and the four reinforcing strips ruiming the entire length of the box and their ends resting on the cut-oit corners of the end pieces and abutting the cleats to thus brace and strengthen'the'box throughout and, in reality, form a'skeleton frame.

These reinforcing strips 17 may be of wood or metal, as they are not necessarily nailed to the end pieces but simply rest thereon.

In Fig. 9, I have shown what the skeleton frame will look like without the mat shaped therearound. and itwill be appreciated how this skeleton frame will strengthen the entire box. Y

There are other advantages, however, in using the end pieces with thecut1 v ffA corners on which rest-the reinforcing'stripsfthat assist in the strengthening of the box, and these further advantages are that after the box is packed and the ends of the wire stitching 11 and 12 are respectively secured to each other, these longitudinal meeting edges of the box, that is, along the sides at both the top and bottom, are tightly fitted together and clasp the 'surfaces of the reinforcing strips 17, which are really lof wedge-shape formation. -In other words, after the box is loaded and the top or covergclosedand the ends of the wire strips are grasped in a specialtool for pullingthewire stitching tight and then twisting the same, both the sides, bottoni andcover are tightly pulled toward each other and, of course, inwardly against the four triangular strips that-extend across the edges,l thus making it possible to ship material in this box that would leak or 'spill or iiow through the' several edges of an or-j dinary wire-bound box.,l y

Thus, it will be seen that not only have I produced a box that is easy to construct, easy to assemble and exceedingly well braced between its ends but, at the same time, have pro-v vided a box wherein there will be no leakage or opening along its edges, which is so often the case with theordinary wire bound boxes which are made of relatively light material and not closely fitted.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that I have devised al box wherein the cleats, sides, cover and top may. be quickly stitched on an appropriate machine' in the factory, and wherein theend pieces may have the corners quickly beveled to receive fourstrips that are packed with the mat, so that the parts of the box may be shipped in great quantities in their knocked-down form and occupy but little'space.

Furthermore,the consumer of the boxes may quickly assemble them, it being only necessary to nail the end pieces to the cleats and insert the four longitudinal strips, all of which may be done in the course of a fewl minutes. i

Finally, after the box isvpacked, the ends of the wire stitching maybe twisted by a suitable toolnor brace, as is the ordinary practice,

and the box in its completed for'm will be tightly bound and tightly reinforced. Also, the meeting adjacent edges throughout will tightly grip the angular inserted reinforcing strips and therebyjprevent any of the material within the boxA from leaking out or spilling along any of these edges.

Many slight changes might be made without in any way departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. ,Y

Having thus describedv my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure byLetters Patent is Y Y 1. A. wire bound -boxcomprising a mat formed of abottom. vtwoV sides and a'cover, the piecesofthe mat being stitched together lui) i wire stitching adapted to be respectively secured to each other to thereby tightly bind the box together.

2. A wire bound box comprising a bottom, sides and a cover stitched together in the form of a mat, two end pieces, the said 'end pieces having their corners beveled at right angles n to diagonal lines drawn from the'respective corners, triangular corner strips extending from the opposite endsof the box and situated at the fourrcspective corners, thebases ofthe respective triangular strips lying flush with the beveled edges of the corners to thereby form four relatively square edges, the opposite ends of the wires forming the stitching adapted to be respectively. fastened to each other when the cover is down to thereby reinforce the box and tightly hold the four edges together.

3. A wire bound box comprising a bottom, sides anda cover stitched together in'th'e form of a mat, two endpieces, eachhaving their corners cut to receive longitudinal reinforcing strips extending from Vend tol end ofthe'fbox, said strips being triangular in shape and having their apexes extending outwardly from the box, the end pieces being nailed to the mat when the same isin its shaped position, the ends of the respe'ctivebands of the wire stitching secured to each other when the cover is down to thereby reinforce the boX and hold the respective adjacent edges of the sides, cover and bottom tightly against the diverging walls of the said reinforcing strips.

4. A wire bound 4box made up of a mat, said mat comprising sides, bottom and cover, wooden strips located near the opposite edges of the said pieces ofthe mat and the said' piecesv stitched to thesides, bottom and cover of themat, two end pieces, said end pieces nailed to said strips when the mat is'formed in the shape of the box, the said end pieces having their corners beveled, reinforcing strips extending between the ends and along the respective top and lower edges of thebox,

yand wire extending completely around the i box when in itsnished shape and the respective edges of the `p ieces of the mattightly fitting against the said longitudinal reinforcing strips. f 1 v 1 j .5. A wire bound'box'comprising two end pieceshaving their corners beveled, the sides and bottom vnailed tosaid end pieces, longitudinal triangular reinforcing strips placed on the beveled corners with their apexes` extending outwardly, said strips tting between the adjacent respective edgesof the sides, bottom and top, and Awire strips secured around the to tightly jam the adjacent i .bottom andfco'ver, and wire strips passed V'around the box to. tightly draw the spaced gular pieces. y

7. A `box comprising a mat, said mat formed of the sides, bottom and cover, all of which arel stitched together and with the parts slightly lspaced from eachother, end piecessecured to theV mat `when the latter is shaped in the forni of a box, the said end pieces havingtheir corners cut to loosely receive triangular reinforcing strips extending edges` against the sloping walls of the .trian- Vthroughout the length of the box, the wires of the stitching adapted to be secured to each lother to thereby reinforce the box, hold down the cover, andltightly force the'respective adjacent edges of thel box against the respec-y tive walls of the triangular-shaped"reinforc-` ing strips.

8. The method -of forming a box whichil.r

consists iiistitching the sides, bottom andr also stitched longitudinally `of' the mat, end pieces with-their edges beveled, `fitting the 'cover in theform of a mat, woodenv cleats` mat aroundftheend pieces and nailing the end pieces tothe cleats, inserting four longitudinal triangular stripsso that their ends respectively restons the said beveled portion of the end pieces, and twisting the respective ends of the wire stitching together to tightly bind the box together. f

Y 9. The methodof making a wire bound box which consists in stitching the sides, bottom and cover inthe form of a flat mat with the said parts slightly spaced from -each other when in theiriiat condition, wooden cleats also stitchedlongitudinally of the mat, end pieceshaving their respective fourcorners beveled, fitting the mat around'the end pieces and nailing the ends to the said cleats, loosely inserting the four longitudinal strips so that Y to hold the cover vdown and to pull the' rei' spectiv'e sidezfedges Vof the box tightly together.

In testimonywhereof I ahx my signature, l

` `EDVVVARD T. JOHNSON. 

